Clone to backup SSD
I have an ssd in a remote computer (not with me) which I want to clone. This is the Source ssd. I have connected it using a Ugreen usb to sata converter to my home computer which has Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office installed. I used a new ssd of the same size and another Ugreen converter to connect to my home computer, as the Destination drive.
My Source drive has two partitions, both with drive letters, one labelled as "System Reserve" which has the Boot files, the other partition also with a named label which has the program files including those for Windows. When I select Clone Disk in Tools, and select either Auto or Manual, Clone to another machine or To use as a data disk, Acronis puts a third partition every time on the Destination disk, with no drive letter or label, saying it is " 100 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)". I assume this "EFI" partition is hidden, confirmed with Diskpart.
Why is my Destination clone different from its Source with a third partition?
Thanks
Geoff
Hi Steve, thanks for replying. I'm not altogether very knowledgeable when playing in this area.
I tried going down that rabbit hole of Rescue Media Builder. I came across your post in How to do a Rescue Media Builder and started reading the Knowledge Base articles and became more confused. I have been waiting sometime for Windows AIK to download but the waiting wheel just keeps spinning and spinning.
I can't get the destination computer's details as its not here with me. I did leave out that when I did install the destination ssd into the remote computer, I got a not bootable media or similar message.
What I have not tried is to enter the bios on the destination computer and see if there is a boot option for UEFI from the hard drive. I doubt it as this computer (flight sim) is a 2011 version with Win 7 so bound to be Legacy Bios.
If I install Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office onto the remote computer and then clone its drive to another ssd might be the best option.
I don't know if I trust the likes of win32imager to not change my source disk in the process. It's the only copy I have.
Geoff
Just finished cloning another backup.
I think it must have been the 2 partition iteration of the destination disk that I tried in the destination computer that did not boot. I have just cloned another using the "Manual / As is" options. Whilst it still put the cloning computer's EFI in a partition, there is a separate partition labelled "System Reserved" with its own drive letter, along with the main partition drive so three drives in all.
My hope is that the destination computer will see the System Reserved drive and boot. Next Tuesday will tell when I visit the site.
Geoff, some comments to make.
First, you do not need to download the Windows AIK as Acronis can create WinPE rescue media using the files from the Windows Recovery partition and save you from a 6GB download and install.
Second, if your remote Win 7 computer is from 2011 then it may also be a 32-bit computer as lots of older PC's were unless you have such as an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and installed a 64-bit version of Win 7. This means that if you create Acronis rescue media on your local PC as 64-bit WinPE media, then it won't work if the Win 7 PC is a 32-bit machine!
I would not recommend installing ACPHO on the Win 7 computer as again it has a minimum requirement of an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and would probably cause more issues than it is worth!
I would strongly recommend making a Backup image of the Win 7 SSD using ACPHO on your home computer, this will give you some protection from any mistakes, issues etc but please understand that Acronis would also migrate that SSD from Legacy to UEFI if you were to try to Recovery that backup on the home computer!
My personal choice if I were in your place would be to install a free copy of Macrium Reflect from the Major Geeks website and use this to clone your SSD without having to worry about it changing the drive from MBR to GPT (Legacy to UEFI).
Hi Steve,
The Remote computer Processor Intel Core i7 - 2600K cpu @ 3.40 GHz. Installed ram, 6 GB. System type 64-bit OS Win 7 Pro.
I just tried the image option of Macrium. It changed the disk to EFI and planted the EFI partition along with the System Reserved and the Primary. This is the same as what Acronis does. No option to not have the EPI.
So I used the foresnic option and it works, well it looks the same. Now to try is in the remote computer next Tuesday. It is showing all the signs of being ok, MBR and only the 2 partitions.
Thanks for your help Steve.
UPDATE
Well the saga continues. The computer boots but freezes while it is updating security settings.
Whilst the ssd in Disk Management says it is MBR, the cpu has a UEFI BIOS so I assume the BIOS can still boot with an MBR ssd as the original ssd still works
So I have removed the cpu from the sim and bought it home in an attempt to sort this out.
Geoff
Geoff, if you have the system at home with you, then one option that would help confirm the correct BIOS boot mode and disk mode (Legacy / MBR versus UEFI / GPT), would be to do a vanilla install of Win 7 Pro 64-bit and see what it does?
My suspicion is that with being a UEFI BIOS system, it will use that mode unless the BIOS is set to boot in compatibility mode (CSM) to allow Legacy mode.
Hi Steve,
I made the mistake of clicking the Solution button and lost my post so I'll start again!!
Finally......I got it to work. I've probably be told this already, but I used the Media Builder to make a backup image, then the Restore to produce a backup ssd. I had no luck using the Cloning option.
Thanks Steve, its guys/gals like you that we dummies rely on to get over issues like this.
Geoff
Geoff, always great to read of success in the forums - well done for persevering with the task and thanks for your feedback.